Camera Explosions
by Miranda Crystal-Bearer
Summary: Anyway, so I got this camera, 'cause I thought it might be fun.


**A/N:** Manga-verse, if any. o.o I do not own Gensoumaden Saiyuki. And I apologize for any out-of-character-ness, Goku is _really_ hard for me to write. And I alternated between calling the little white dragon Hakuryuu and "Jiipu," because I've been corrupted by too much fanfiction. But anyway, here you go.

* * *

I think I got the camera...oh, maybe just a year into the trip? Maybe. I don't keep track of time. That's Sanzo an' Hakkai's job. I'm just along to keep Sanzo from getting flattened by the nasty youkai that want to eat him. Yuck. Anyway, so I got this camera, 'cause I thought it might be fun. I didn't realize just what I would start.

The very first picture I took? Of my feet...and my thumb. Of course. The very next was a nice close-up of Sanzo's elbow. Anyway, it took me a little while to get the hang of taking recognizable pictures. The first roll of film I got developed didn't have anybody's face on it, 'cept for Hakuryuu's. Jiipu's pretty...what did Hakkai call it? Pho-to-gen-ic. Yeah. The last three of that first roll were all of Jiipu, and they weren't blurry or anything. One of 'em makes him look like he's got no head, though.

The next one was mostly of people's hands shoving the camera away. And the inside of my pockets. And two that I really don't know what I got a picture of. One kinda looks like I dropped the thing and it exploded on the inside...

But once I got the hang of things, I started getting good pictures. Mostly. It's really hard for me to get a picture of Sanzo where he doesn't have his eyes closed or his mouth open or both. And try getting a picture where Hakkai doesn't smile. I think I have an even dozen of those, and that includes one of him sneezing, two with the "huh-what?" expression you get when you call their name and then take a picture, three where he's yawning, one where he realized that Gojyo _really_ did...um, anyway, it's hard to catch him without a smile. Gojyo, though, he's pretty easy to take good pictures of. But I do have a lot of the back of his head... And I have lots of Jiipu. _Lots._

I take pictures of other stuff, too... I have a good twenty pictures of Kougaiji, and all of them are blurry. He's either moving or teleporting and three of 'em were over-exposed 'cause of his aura. Hakkai's chi attacks over-expose a lot of my pictures, too. Oh, and a coupla pictures of Sanzo when he's meditating or chanting get that way, too. Anyway, I've got pictures of grass and trees and villages and strange-looking people...but mostly of Sanzo and Hakkai and Gojyo. And lots of Jiipu.

There are a some of me, but not much. They only started appearing lately. Gojyo was the first to start using my camera, but later Hakkai did too, and last of all Sanzo. Gojyo takes pictures of people and faces and weird things like ankles and hands and collarbones. Hakkai mostly takes pictures of Hakuryuu. Or the rest of us. Sanzo's pictures are the weirdest. I mean it. Things like a single flower or ripples on the water or shadows...and sometimes he'll take pictures of me or the others, and those are the best. He always takes a picture when we don't see, and it just looks nice.

Of course, there are the embarrassing photos. I have a total of five of Gojyo stark naked and posing (I don't remember taking any of those, he must've gotten someone else to) one of Hakkai naked, two of Sanzo without clothes (one where he's fixing to shoot who-ever's got the camera) an' three of me naked. I know Gojyo took at least one of those. And then there are the dozens where any of us are half-dressed and two of Gojyo mooning the camera.

The pictures I hate are th' ones of us injured. We've got a coupla those. I really really hate the ones where Sanzo's injured. I never take those. Gojyo an' Hakkai do, an' there's a lot of them, 'cause he gets hurt more than the rest of us do. There's one where he's standing in a field, dead youkai all around him, blood all over his robes, and his arm ripped open. It was cloudy that day, but he's standing in a sunbeam, glaring at the camera, reloading his gun. I don't have many of Hakkai hurt, but I do have a really strange one. I managed to get a picture of him without his limiters, and it's the only one out of three where his aura didn't kill it. He's staring flat at the camera, hands covered in blood, and just _lookin'_ at ya. It's creepy. I have a coupla ones with Gojyo injured, but not too bad. I have one where he's got his arm all smashed up, broke in about three places and bone showin' an' everything. But he's still fighting and grinning. I think we have a few of me hurt, and one of those I know Sanzo took. It's got me, face half-hidden in shadow, with my chest and shoulder clawed open and bleedin' an' all you can see of my face is a smile. It's at a funny angle...I think he was on the ground when he took it.

...there's one of these of Sanzo hurt that I don't mind, actually. It's kinda funny. Gojyo took it after a bar-fight. Sanzo's looking at the camera, grinning like he's crazy, with a black eye and a busted lip and a bloody nose. But he's grinnin' like mad. It's funny.

My favorite pictures are the hardest to get. They're the ones of all four of us. I usually have to get someone else to take those. A lot of them are of us playing Mahjong or cards, and one or two of us all fighting. I had to get Lirin to help with that. She's nice enough. Anyway, those are really, really hard to get.

The best pictures are the ones where everyone's relaxed. I have one of Sanzo where he's reading his scroll, just flopped on the bed, an' eating a popsicle. He's got the "and what do you want?" look on his face, but it's the patient version. My favorite one of Gojyo is one where he's sitting on the floor, playing solitaire, an' he's looking up with a grin. I don't know if he thought I was someone else or if he knew I wanted a good picture, 'cause he _never_ smiles that way at me. And the best one of Hakkai has him sitting in the grass and sunshine with Jiipu in his lap and Hakkai's got his real smile on. ...there's one of me, and I'm not sure who took it, but it's me climbing a fruit tree and laughing down at the ground. I think Sanzo took it, 'cause it just looks like one of his.

See, once we started takin' pictures of each other, something changed. I'd come back with the new pictures, and Gojyo and I would sit on the floor to look at 'em. Hakkai would come over, and look, an' eventually Sanzo would saunter over and glance 'em over. We started asking who had the camera, and laughing over the really bizarre pictures. We would stop at pretty places instead of hurrying on. Once, I was tryin' to take a picture of the sky an' sunset an' the perfect full moon without blurrin' it. I'm bad at that, 'cause I never stand still enough. Anyway, I was trying to take the picture. Sanzo walked up behind me, took the camera from me, propped an elbow on my shoulder, and snapped the picture. He gave it back and walked off right away, but Sanzo is the best at being still to take pictures. It turned out perfect 'cause he did it. And that's not the only time he's starting doin' something like that.

One crazy rainy day Gojyo and I found a drawer full of hats in the hotel's den we were sitting in. We started tryin' 'em on and taking pictures. A funny cowboy hat, a messenger's cap, a lady's bonnet, a baseball cap...there were a lot of them. Hakkai started smiling a little, and came to take pictures for us, an' then Gojyo clapped one of the checkered gambler's hats on him and then Hakkai was tryin' them on and taking pictures with us. We were loud and silly and having lots of fun. We were all surprised when Sanzo walked up, took the camera from Hakkai, shooed us all three into a bunch and took a picture. Sanzo wouldn't wear the lady's bonnet even though Gojyo tried to make him, but he did put on the messenger's cap at a fun angle and let me take a picture of it. An' he even smiled, just a tiny bit. Sanzo smiled on a rainy day. I couldn't believe it.

Things just started changing since I got the camera. We all smile more, and that's good. We have lots more fun.

But I'd love to see Kougaiji's face when I show him the latest picture I took of him--he's sneezing.


End file.
